Aspects of the reflexion and free wave properties of a composite panel under fluid loading

The response of a composite panel to external forcing, with inclusion of fluid loading effects, is considered. Of the two strata comprising the composite panel one, backed by a vacuum, is of the conventional thin elastic plate or membrane kind, while the other, in contact with the fluid, is more like an elastic solid and may suffer significant compression. The behaviour of the acoustic field close to grazing incidence is examined, this behaviour being determined by that of the plane wave reflexion coefficient. In the absence of the upper stratum it is well known that the reflexion coefficient has the value ?1 around grazing incidence, so that direct and reflected fields from an external source cancel and preclude the propagation of a genuine acoustic field over the surface (a situation known in optics as the “Lloyd's mirror” effect). It is shown that, at any given frequency, an impedance for the upper stratum can be prescribed which will lead to the value +1 for the grazing incidence reflexion coefficient, and will thus obviate the severe power loss which would otherwise occur in directions close to the surface. Next the free subsonic surface waves which can exist in the coupled three-part (two-layer panel plus fluid) system are examined. It is shown analytically that, if the upper layer has low impedance controlled by stiffness forces, a new surface wave can exist in the system. This wave essentially involves the stiffness of the upper layer and the mass of the fluid, and has a wavenumber much higher than that of the surface wave in a single conventional panel. It is also shown from numerical studies that two subsonic surface waves will exist over quite a wide range of parameters, though not necessarily with the wide wavenumber separation of the low impedance case. A discussion is given of the possible importance of the high wavenumber mode in the case of excitation by high wavenumber boundary layer turbulence, and of the significance of two free subsonic surface wave modes in calculations of energy transmission over composite panels of the kind modelled here.